Should I be worried with PH levelsin cold water?

[crafty33]

I have 6 month old gunite pool. The water temp is around 50 degrees. 48 this morning. Should I still be checking the PH levels and keeping them down. I know a new pools usually raises the PH level during the 1st year but wondering if it will affect the plaster if it goes to high during the winter. I am only running the pump when I vacum out the junk on the bottom of the pool, about every 3 weeks. I have been putting some MA in when the pump is running.

Also, when I do a PH test is it ok to test right away or should i let the water warm up soom?

Thanks and ope eveyone has a great new years.

 

[JasonLion]

Most pools most of the time can be left alone over the winter, ie no PH adjustments. However if you have fresh plaster, especially if plaster was applied after the water temperature would have already been below comfortable swimming temperatures, you may well need to adjust the PH over the winter.

However, it is important to be aware that the PH shifts up naturally as the water gets colder, so you do not want to adjust the PH nearly as low as you normally would. If the water is down around freezing you want the PH as much as 0.4 higher than it should be in the summer. Warmer water temperatures mean less of an PH adjustment.

The PH test still works with cold water, but it may take a moment to mix in throughly and settle into it's final color, so give it several seconds and some extra mixing before reading out the PH.

 

[crafty33]

Thank you!